Community Pool

Have you just published a new post and are dying for some feedback? Did you recently start your blog and could use some layout or design advice from your more seasoned peers?

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Please keep all comments civil and constructive. The idea is to have fun — it’s a pool, after all!

Great stuff, i enjoyed reading your post and got a good chuckle out of it!
Your kids sound great, The mischievous ones always turn into the best adults!

I suggest you add more tags to your posts. you can add up to 15 tags and the more tags the more people might see your post! Try some generic tags like “blog” and “life” along with “humor” “humour” etc 🙂

I love your blog , so easy to read and so fun , its just a nice escape from life , and your hard work appears , i suggest you think about writing a book for kids they would really enjoy it or maybe grown ups too i mean i am a grown up and i would really enjoy reading that book , my only suggestion is to write more in your posts maybe 2 to 3 lines more and maybe try to be a little more creative with your post ideas , i mean you are really creative with the writing so it won’t be a problem for you to create different kind of posts , i think it will be better that way . you just earned my follow and i am looking forward to your posts . Have fun writing them .

It’s adorable! The drawing cracked me up…I could even see it being a series of drawings (he falls, he makes a worried face, he hides in the sofa). I think he should make a silent plea for some armor, too. 🙂

I LOVE your blog lol it is truly funny, my kind of humor at least. But your most recent post has a lot of truth behind it, and it’s kind go unfortunate that’s the way society is now with replacing things. Poor little phones lol. I read through a lot more of your blog too, your random pictures crack me up because of the title. Sounds like exactly something I would do so I can totally relate to your humor. Look Ors! haha! I would SUPER appreciate it if you checked out my blog too!

I really enjoyed this post and your blog in general. I read your cell phone story out loud and my boyfriend and I got a good little laugh. Do you make the art to go with the story or make up stories to go along with your art?

That was a really encouraging post. I often feel the same way, listless, about “What I’m Supposed to Be Doing with My Life” and whether or not I will ever make it there. Even though you don’t offer any “solutions” I think it’s valuable just to read someone else’s perspective about “failure.”

Thank you 🙂 When I wrote this post, I was so afraid because I thought “what if nobody gets it? what if people think i’m crazy and hung up on something irrelevant?” It’s encouraging to know I’m not alone. Thank you 🙂

Hi there. I thought this was fascinating, very similar to something I have experienced myself sat around costing my parents money. What you say about writing being cathartic is perfect as well, and something I am trying to explore at the moment. Make sure you stick at it, your style is wonderfully engaging and interesting to read, and from the little I have read it seems like you post about things that really matter to you, which is always encouraging 🙂

Ben, I just checked out your blog and one of your posts really stuck out to me. “The Importance of Keeping Perspective” – we really lose insight of how privileged we are, despite a huge gap in income inequality. Relative to the rest of the world, we do not have to witness incessant violence and the reoccurring thought of starvation. I really loved that you talked about this. Thank you!

Thank you so much, yes, it is this sort of thing that just strikes me occasionally and I feel this impulse to write about it. Makes me realise how lucky I have been in my lifetime. Have had a look at your blog and its fascinating, I spent a year in Portugal myself as part of my degree so that really resonated with me! 🙂

Is it bad that my mind read that entire comment in a British accent? I’ve never met someone with the name Benedict and I always wanted to. So HI 🙂
Writing is the only thread I’m hanging on to. One that I hope never snaps.
Thank you so much for the kind words 🙂

Great blog. Loved the content and the design! Really loved the content, as it resonates with me! I wrote a similar post, much more flippant, but its called I Bit Off More Than I Can Chew at http://www.acountrygirlsurviving.wordpress.com

I can relate to that, I don’t have good relationships with my family.
I do not have many readership as I don’t really have a theme to my blog (or so some say). You are more than welcome to contribute to the [lack of] discussions there!

I have a very good relationship with mine. But they’re just not readers. My mom doesn’t understand what I write. My sister is too young to care. My father does not want to because this is a path he does not approve of 🙂 *typical Indian family*
I will head over right away and create a discussion 😀 I didn’t have a theme until something pissed me off one day and I wrote about it and told myself that this will be the place for all such moments in my life.
Sorry about the long comment 😛

You write really well … I am loving every post i have read so far … Some i agree with, some i cried over, some I believe you must change your perspective. ALL have made me think. And react. Look forward to lots more beautiful writing.

I like it a lot, particularly the end where you switch to first person narrative, which captures the sentimentality of the piece. Personally I’m not a huge fan of free verse but I think the content is lovely and that is really just a personal preference form-wise. Having said that, I think the one before that ‘Looking in the mirror’ is wonderful and greatly pictures those feelings I’m sure we all have sometimes. Keep it up, you’re doing a great job!

Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to look at my blog! Thank you for your advice as well! I have checked out your blog and I followed! I read a couple of your posts and honestly I feel like you have good information there and you raise some good points! I feel like I’m getting smarter when I read your blog! Keep it up! 🙂

Haha, always a pleasure, as you may be able to tell from reading my blog I love reading literature, so it’s always lovely to come across new writers who are brave enough to put their content out there 🙂

Is your room a mess like mine? Have you held on to photographs of old boyfriends, hoarded hotel shampoo freebies, kept decades-old sweat pants?
A clean space denotes a clean mind. I recently read a book about a revolutionary way of tidying up – it teaches us not to merely organise and store things, but discard anything that doesn’t bring us joy. Sounds very brutal but it seems to work wonders, so much that people pay the author to help them tidy up!
What do you think?https://pixiedustbeach.wordpress.com/2015/02/01/decluttering/
Blog in general: https://pixiedustbeach.wordpress.com

Thanks Mara! It is those sentimental items that are hardest to let go right? Seems like you’re going through a rough patch…
Glad the subject resonated with you and hopefully it will be helpful when you need to chuck away those things that are toughest to discard!

Ooh good! Yes, it’s a way of creating the mood for my posts and extracts. By the way, I have to say I love the first page of your blog with the ‘enter’. I haven’t actually seen that before, it was strangely exciting!

Divorce is never easy – but I do feel the lightness and humour when you write about it. There’s liberating elements in the post, and some parts are funny, but I also sense a bit of anger/resentment towards the (ex)hubby (like him saying the same phrase one too many times…)? It’s also very personal and I would imagine relatable to many who go through the same thing.

Thank you very much for your thoughtful feedback. You are right, I’m trying to be funny, yet there is some bitterness underneath that can’t quite be covered by the humour… You’re very attentive to notice. Your comment helps a lot, thank you again!

Oh, thank you very much for your lovely comment! It’s reassuring. It helps to write about one’s experience, whether it ends up to be a badass rant or something more light-hearted, I certainly recommend trying it! Though I hope you will not need to write about breaking up any time soon…

My favorite so far. Maybe it is because I was just trying to tell some of my friends how easy divorce can be, how the stigma shouldn’t exist, and how of they are so unhappy in their marriage, then getting divorced will be something to celebrate. Great post!.

Your kind words very the world to me, Josh. It’s a difficult subject to write about, and slightly controversial. It’s indeed a shame that divorce is stigmatised — of course it’s not what you should do light-heartedly, but neither is marriage. And it is more harmful to stay in a dysfunctional marriage than to leave it…

I am so glad I found your blog, am now a follower here and on Instagram (I love cat and nature photos; photography is a bucket list item for me) I think your honesty is very brave and I enjoy your sense of humor

I agree with Mara, and I especially liked the close ups of the grass. Very interesting that you’re writing and photographing from Morocco. Your colours are vibrant, it gave me a ‘spark’ when I browsed through your posts. I’m following 🙂

Your blog is a great and brave effort. Just one remark, I must admit that the white text against the grey background doesn’t agree well with my eyes — I like the look of it but it’s very demanding for me to read. Maybe others feel like this? But maybe it’s your intention to have the grey background to go with the topic of your blog!

Mara, I have had that concern from one other person. However, I have had a TON of positives on the whole new look. I bought the font and color upgrade. Then I found that header. So I clicked a button that said”match header”. (This is a premium feature.) It hit me with all of that grey. I am taking Blogging 101 again so maybe I will play around again and see what I can find. I do like that header….it explains what I often feel. Thanks for the very relevant feedback. I was using the plain Chateau theme and this is so much better.

Hi guys, still fairly new to this, so always looking for more feedback. Particularly looking for feedback on this post which I wrote yesterday after going to a Holocaust memorial service at Westminster Abbey, but general advice always appreciated as well :).

First, the layout of your blog is great, easy to read. Your post is well written and thought provoking. I wished there was a link to listen to the music you wrote about. I will go see if I can find it.

Just started my blog in January and would appreciate some feedback so far on the content of the site, i.e. post readability, ratio of photos to content, etc. Please comment on the post(s) you are reviewing for me. Thanks!!https://crazycatgirlblog.wordpress.com

Your new blog is exactly to my taste! Clean and neat, well organised and with the right proportion of beautiful pictures and interesting texts. Especially your post about the elderly cat saving lady struck a chord with me. Keep it coming!

The last time that I was on the Community Pool, it impressed me so much that I wrote a blog about it!

However, this week I’ve written something new which I’d love your opinion on. It’s essentially about nightclubbing and spirituality (kinda) : https://revolutionfrommybed.wordpress.com/2015/02/01/jazz-rooms/
It’s a bit of a departure for me so, yes any thoughts welcome (as well as on the site in general) and I’ll certainly reciprocate.

Hey everyone!
Just posted a couple of new pieces and would your feedback.

I’ve also been working on the layout of my blog and included some new widgets, your views would be highly appreciated!
I’m also eager to read some pieces so feel free to drop a link in your reply.
Many thanks!

I absolutely loved: Why I Write, especially, “Writing is like Dancing with existence and with spirit”. So beautifully put! Just one thing, look out for capitalised letters and spaces, it is a bit distracting. Cheers!

Hi Anagha. Browsed your blog and liked it. Lots! May i suggest something? My first sentence and the rest of this comment is an example. You have great content, wonderful ideas and lots of creativity. But since you are blogging in English, do consider grammar and punctuation. While incomplete sentences are perhaps “trendy” and often can work to emphasize a point, they have to be carefully placed. Your reader can get distracted by incorrect usage of language. This would be a pity because your blog is, otherwise, so nice. Sorry for the lecture, but as a teenager, I am sure you are used to that! Besides, you asked for feedback! 😈

Hello,
I just started running two serial-esque type blogs. Each has a story that continues with each weekly post (essentially these are novels I’ve already somewhat, mostly written, parsed out in 1,000 word blurbs). I’m not convinced the layout makes the most sense, especially down the line when posts start to get in the teens in twenties. Right now it is just a few friends looking, so not much in the way of constructive criticism Any thoughts on layout or content would be appreciated!https://neilhaswritten.wordpress.com/https://neiliswriting.wordpress.com/

I love the idea! It reminds me of cartoons when I was younger, or the serial stories my grandfather would tell five minutes of every night.
In terms of criticism, the layout is hard to follow. I would add more simple or visible mapping for the older posts.

Hello everyone,
I’d love it if some of you could have a little look at my blog! I write about Christianity, Bible studies, advice and life as a teenage Christian girl. Please have a look and tell me what you think!
Graciellen xxx

Hi Graciellen, what a pretty name! I read through several of your posts. I especially liked the one about what to do if you’re in a bad mood, but when I was looking for a button to “like” it and “share” it at the end of the post, there weren’t any. You can click on “customize”, then “widgets”, and play around with adding like and share buttons! Keep up the lovely work!

Hello there Dee!
Thank you very much for your feedback! 🙂
I think if you go onto my blog on the Internet there are like and share buttons at the bottom of the post? Please tell me if you see them, they come up when I look at it!
Also if you’d like to share that would be so kind!
I really enjoy your blog too, and have followed you! 🙂

Graciellen xx
PS. My real name is Grace and my middle name is Ellen, but I thought I would squish them together to create a fun blog name hehe! 🙂 xx

Hi Grace, No… I don’t see “like” or “share” buttons. Uhm…. not sure what to suggest, except play around with your widget section, and see if you have them visible. Also, when you adjust the setting, you have to “save”. You could see how it looks to someone else, if they check it out on their device for you. On a side note, you also have “uncategorized” on all your posts. That simply means you have not divided your posts into categories. You can “edit” your posts, and “add” a category, like “girly things”, “devo”, “bible for girls” or whatever you like; just make sure to un-check ‘uncategorized’ as well. It took me a while to figure that one out! It’s best to just choose one category or two, and also add tags. Where did you get your photos? They’re really pretty! 🙂

Re: “Like” and share buttons — those are only visible when you view the post on its own URL. When you just read it on the homepage these (and all other) buttons aren’t displayed. This is probably the source of the confusion here, since I’ve visited your posts and saw the buttons properly displayed.

Hi Margaret! That’s a good question. Generally speaking, blogs are continually updated – you add to the content as you go with new posts. Websites however typically have “static” content which does not change. Also typically blogs are more personal and informal, while websites are used by businesses to sell or promote a product. However, some companies use blogs to keep their customers updated about new products – LUSH cosmetics has a blog that it is a good example of this. This site might help give you some additional information: http://www.shoutmeloud.com/difference-between-blog-vs-website.html

Hi everyone,
Yesterday I published my ‘January favourites’ post which I would love some feedback on. I included a lot more images than I usually do in my posts which seemed to be well received from those who have already viewed it. I would appreciate any feedback on this post and my blog in general as it all helps me to improve.

Hi there! I think this works with more images – people are very visual. Though it’s probably good to reserve it for these types of “summation” blog posts, rather than the everyday ones. Just an opinion 🙂

Thanks for the advice it really does help me. I think I will only include more images in these type of blog posts anyway because my blog isn’t photography based. Also I thoroughly enjoy spending more time on the written aspects of my blog posts rather than the visual 🙂

Hi Guys, I’m very new to the Community Pool set up, but I was hoping to get a little feedback about the content on my site; does it need a specific focus or does posting to suit my interests work better?
The dream is to run my blog full time (shared by many here I suspect), so any advice/comments would be a huge help.

That’s the dream! I think initially you’ll want to just write/ post about whatever you think will represent who you are. If you’re too focused, it might limit your writing and inspiration. So go for it and soon enough, with the help of you wordpress site stats, you’ll see what your audience tends to like and you can cater to that!

Definitely make use of tags as well – and make sure to build your community of readers to get a better idea of what your blog should be about. Getting involved with Community Pool is a great start 🙂 Best of luck Ashley!

I really like your blog! Although I think I called you Ashley in one of my comments. Between your username, twitter feed, and heading, I spotted three or four different names in the one place so didn’t know which one to use! 😀

As McCallister said, don’t box yourself into a theme too quick, because you’ll naturally fall into a smaller range of topics as you go – those that people keep coming back for and commenting on, which are hopefully the same themes you love writing about more than others!

Hi everyone. Ive changed my blog abit and got a new blog post up as well. Was wondering if you lovelies could give me some advice on it?? Any likes, comments and follows welcome. I will happily return the favour. Xx
Seasonal-rose.wordpress.com

I would advise proofreading your posts more carefully – there are some typos and things (like “They *most* be comfy” instead of “They *must* be comfy”) that distracted me from the content of your posts.